Cancun, Mexico — Kiara Leslie and Grace Hunter each had a double-double, Aislinn Konig had 16 points, including four 3-pointers, and six assists, and the No. 15 N.C. State women beat Michigan State, 78-74, on Thursday night in the Cancun Challenge.

Victoria Gaines scored seven points during a 9-3 spurt that trimmed Michigan State’s deficit to 74-72 with 15 seconds left. Cassell hit two free throws on the other end and, after Gaines made a jumper with two seconds left, Hunter capped the scoring with two foul shots.

Shay Colley led Michigan State (3-1) with 20 points, Taryn McCutcheon scored 16 and Gaines finished 15, including nine in the final 3:30.

Hunter scored the final five points in a 14-0 run to close the first quarter that made it 25-12 going into the second and the Wolfpack never again trailed. McCutcheon’s 3-pointer made it 32-all with four minutes left in the first half but Leslie and Hunter made back-to-back 3s as N.C. State scored 10 of the next 14 points to make it 42-36 at the half.

Detroit Mercy signs guard

New Detroit Mercy head coach Mike Davis officially landed his first recruit for the 2019 class when guard Jamail Pink from Houston signed his national letter of intent.

Davis is familiar with Pink (6-foot-1, 170 pounds) from his time coaching Texas Southern, before landing the Titans job.

“Jamail is a good point guard who is smart and a hard worker,” Davis said. “He has a great work ethic and we are excited to have him here at Detroit Mercy.”

Pink averaged 10.2 points, 4.3 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.0 steals as a junior at Clear Lake High School. According to MaxPreps, he’s the No. 33-ranked recruit in Texas for 2019.

Big Ten

Trice hit seven 3-pointers in the semifinals, which broke the previous single-game record of six, first set by UConn’s Shabazz Napier in the inaugural event in November 2011.

Syracuse’s Michael Gbinije matched that mark against Charlotte in November 2015.

Trice started 7-for-7 but missed with about 6 minutes left to finish at 7-for-8. That kept him from becoming only the third player to go 100 percent from behind the arc with at least five attempts.

Fresno State 78, Northwestern 59: Fresno State went to work early with a fast, aggressive and efficient offense to build a big lead and never looked back in the first round of the Wooden Legacy at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Gym.

The Bulldogs (2-1) built a 42-28 lead by halftime, during which it shot 51.9 percent from the field.

Guard Braxton Huggins led Fresno State with 17 points. Forward Sam Bittner scored 14 points and made 4 of 5 3-pointers and New Williams also had 14 points. The Bulldogs had 18 assists.

Northwestern (3-1) suffered its first loss of the season as its usually sturdy defense and fullcourt press couldn’t slow Fresno State. Vic Law led Northwestern with 13 points.

Top 25

No. 4 Virginia 66, Dayton 59: De’Andre Hunter matched his career high with 23 points to help Virginia hold off Dayton in the Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals.

Hunter made a 3-pointer with 53.1 seconds left and Virginia protecting a 60-56 lead. It turned out to provide just enough cushion to keep the Cavaliers (5-0) in control and send them into the championship game Friday against No. 25 Wisconsin.

Ty Jerome added 15 points for Virginia, and Kyle Guy had 14.

Josh Cunningham led Dayton (4-1) with 15 points. Dayton will face Oklahoma on Friday in the third-place game.

No. 6 Nevada, Tulsa 86: Jordan Caroline had 25 points and 11 rebounds and Nevada beat Tulsa in the third round of the Las Vegas Invitational.

Caleb Martin added 21 points for the Wolf Pack, making all 10 of his free throws. Jazz Johnson had 20 points on 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range.

Sterling Taplin led the Golden Hurricane (4-1) with 22 points, and Martins Igbanu had 14.

Texas 92, No. 7 North Carolina 89: Kerwin Roach II had a career-high 32 points with seven assists and six steals to lead Texas in the third round of the Las Vegas Invitational.

Roach also had six rebounds and was 12 of 15 from the field, including 3 of 3 from deep. The senior topped his previous best of 26 points with an emphatic dunk with 8:27 left for a 73-65 lead.

Roach and North Carolina freshman Coby White went back and forth all game. White had 33 points, but he missed a 3-pointer that would have put the Tar Heels (5-1) ahead with 1:01 left. He was 7 of 10 from 3-point range.